You've all heard the stories. People going on killing sprees because they did the same in games like GTA. One boy beat his own brother to death because he was putting the games console away. One of the people who went out killing actually said that "life is just a video game".

However, the question often arises as to just are videogames responsible?
Let me post a scenario:

A boy one day goes out with his father's M4, and kills four people who bullied him in school, and several complete strangers, two of which were cops.
In his early years, his mother and father would use violence as a regular punishmet, even for small "crimes".
He played a lot of video games, normally violent ones where killing is either idolised, not looked down on, or simply comical.
He also watched a lot of violent television programmes with his parents, enjoying the explosions, and often laughing - with his parents - when someone died.

So, who is responsible? Is it the videogames, the parents, the bullies, the television programmes? Or is it someone else?

My second question, if you feel video games played a significant role, is whether censorship should be used to greater extents to prevent people getting the full feeling of the violence. Like, in Germany, games do not have humans getting killed: it's cyborgs in an alternate reality or something like that.
Any Europeans who played God of War will notice some of the German influence in the human sacrifice (he was replaced by a zombie).
Should videogames, or all media, be censored to this effect? Or should we simply increase ratings? Or limit advertising? _________________You'll get a PS3 for this game...Don't Piss Her Off...

Video games really should not be blamed so much as they are. I've played far more than my share of gruesome and violent games, and I would never consider seriously hurting someone in less than dire circumstances.

What it all comes down to, is, parents, if you don't want your children seeing a sex scene in GTA:SA than mabye, just mabye, you should *GASP* google the game, and see what kind of game it is. 10 minutes of your time, and we won't have morons screaming to politicians that their son is now moraly corrupt because of pixalated nudity. _________________
Red_Quatre:Who's the guy that says "Get over here!" and then grabs you.
Blad: A rapist

video games and television can be influences but if some retard goes out on a killing spree then he has more issues than a videogame can give him.

if rating systems work for movies and television, it works for games. if all basic television has to do before airing dead bodies is show an advisory before the show plays, then having your parents spend 50 dollars on mortal kombat before getting to play it is good enough. being as anyone can flip through the stations after the advisory was shown just as any kid can play a gorific game at a neighbors house.

who is responsible is the killer. of course being bullied and having bad parents and even the ability to kill freely in games are influences, you punish the kid, and in many cases, the parents aswell.

the guy who said a rap song is what made him go out and murder is as much of an idiot as the guys who say the devil "made them do it". they're all psycho's who are easily misguided and so should be put away due to the possibility the teletubies are brainwashing them to do their evil deeds on humanity.

as for censorship, it wont happen. the demand for violence it too large and makes alot of money. how long and how many times have they tried to censor GTA? GTA is one of the best selling titles ever made. it makes alot of people alot of money. Its hard to say if one title will give in if no other media is forced to censor.

edit:

QUOTE (tyler)

What it all comes down to, is, parents, if you don't want your children seeing a sex scene in GTA:SA than mabye, just mabye, you should *GASP* google the game, and see what kind of game it is. 10 minutes of your time, and we won't have morons screaming to politicians that their son is now moraly corrupt because of pixalated nudity

thats what the USRB content rating is for. that only takes 2 seconds to look at and see if its appropriate for your child. _________________"edit : i luv james" - Layzcarter

I agree that it is the parents. Parents who beat their kids provoke violence in them. Parents who play games which mimic violence (my uncle plays a boxing game with his grandson) provoke it. Although it is subtle, and he probably simply sees it as a harmless game, it will affect his subconscious immensely. A child's mind is a sponge, or it is clay...take your pick. Basically, everything you give them, or everything you show them will carry on for the rest of their lives. They won't notice, since it will become a part of them, but it will be there. You start playing fighting games, they may become violent and agressive. You start using violence as a last resort, then they will do the same. Don't use it at all, and they will discover it later in life, but won't understand it.
Video games can be, at the most, simply one of the many locks that lets out the agression. Like the kid I mentioned who killed his brother. He probably would have killed his brother regardless, because that kind of rage doesn't come simply from putting a cames console away, it's simply one of the many mediums that allows it to escape. It it wasn't that, he probably would have killed him under different circumstances.
Really, just because video games are involved, does not mean they're responsible.
But that's just an oppinion. I'd like to see a contrasting one, though. _________________You'll get a PS3 for this game...Don't Piss Her Off...

responding to your first. if you have to level down to that, then you'd have to say that classmates and friends change people to what they become. which is true. But lets not go putting a killers childhood schoolmates in prison.

Most killers have atleast a slight mental problem, even some that are not noticeable to anyone else. Some people can just be pushed and lose it. You're never going to make a case that murdering someone in cold blood was NOT your fault. Unless you use the insanity plea. Which most people will, and will get away with it. even though there may be no traces of psychotic actions before commiting the crime. But thats just admitting that there is something wrong with you. and not videogames, television, movies, etc. _________________"edit : i luv james" - Layzcarter

What about all the people who play violent video games and don't go on killing sprees? I'm sur ethey outnumber the people who do.

I think media influences these decisions in some ways, but to be hoest, if someone is that insane, then anything could trigger it. It doesn'r have to be that just one game. Look at Charles Manson. He listened to the Beatles' White Album and went out and committed a ton of horrible murders. Is it because of the music? No, it's because he was nuts. It could have been any album that set him off.

It can be anything that sets a killer off. A bully's remark, violence in the family, and yes, viedo games. I don't think media is solely responsible for the rise in violence in today's society, but it does contribute to it. _________________

i personally believe the whole beatles case was just a lie. Manson was pretty intelligent. though he did really love them. and maybe so, he was really nuts. so i guess there's the possiblity he believed the beatles were sending him messages through their music. he actually believed he was the long lost beatle _________________"edit : i luv james" - Layzcarter

True, on TV there is a lot of violence, according to a study made by a local newspaper, most of the TV shows that elementary/middle school kids watch (they made a poll) are DBZ, The Simpsons, and many others that I've seen since I'm 6 although I've never been violent. According to the study, in those shows, you can find violence at least every 2 minutes, and the volume of people who watch them is fairly high, although the amount of murderers is low.

You can't blame TV for the murders, its ilogical to think that TV is what is going wrong, if it was that way, then every person who watched those "violent" shows would have those crazy conducts and that doesn't happen. Other situations in each persons life makes him/her go nuts and murderin'.

The same happens with Video Games, not their fault.... _________________

Yeah.....video games shouldn't be blamed for any of this. TV shouldn't either. and with all the shows and games ive played ive never had this idea in my head. I wouldn't go runing around killing people. I got violent games, and see violent Tv all the time. People are just too crazy. _________________

I really don't think it is the video games that should be blamed, but some does go on the parents. It's the individuals ability to distinguish the difference between reality and the game. But I guess if they were crazy, they wouldn't be able to tell the difference anyways... Some of the blame kinda goes on the parents too though. There shouldn't be a problem with them checking out what kind of games their kids play, and if there's a problem, DO something about it! It IS part of the job of being a parent, right? I've played some of these games before ( ex. GTA) and yeah, there aren't the greatest things in them. But that shouldn't lead to kids and people going out and killing or harming others. I personally like playing GTA every once in a while, but I know that it's a video game and stuff that's in shouldn't be done. But I really don't see the enjoyment of assassinating a president. (There was something on tv about that game being made, right?) I kinda take it as tasteless really...

Conversely, the military is sais to use violent video games while training soldiers because it has been known to desensitize them to shooting people in the face..._________________
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